Monday, March 12, 2018
Elder of Ziyon
Monday, March 12, 2018Elder of Ziyon
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, made several critical observations in her address to the AIPAC Policy Conference last week, but one that rang particularly true was her assessment of Israel’s role in the Middle East.
“There are probably 10 major problems facing the Middle East,” Haley said, “and Israel doesn’t have anything to do with any of them.” And yet every month at the UN Security Council’s gathering devoted to the Middle East, the “session becomes an Israel- bashing session.”
Instead of singling out the only Jewish state for obsessive condemnation, Haley suggested the UNSC focus on the real pathologies of the Middle East, such as “Iran or Syria or Hezbollah, Hamas, ISIS [Islamic State], the famine in Yemen.”
Of all the policy myths that have kept us from recognizing the true nature of conflict in the blood-soaked region, one stands out for its fatality and perpetuation: the idea that if only the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were solved, all the other deep-rooted quandaries facing the Middle East would magically disappear.
The “Arab Spring” revolt that swept across the region should have destroyed the “linkage” dogma once and for all – what happened in Syria, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia had nothing to do with Israel – and yet the myth that the Arab world resolves around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lives on.
I invite you on a quick tour of the greater Middle East. The industrial-scale killing machine of the Assad regime in Syria, sustained by Iran and Russia? Unrelated to the ailing Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Yemen on the brink of starvation? Nothing to do with the Jewish state. The power struggle between Sunnis and Shi’ites that rips apart entire countries? No. The rise of Islamic State? All unrelated.
“Sisters of Dalal” (Fatah’s women’s committee in Palestinian universities) gave out cards at An-Najah National University:UN Palestinian Refugee Aid Agency Called Out for Hypocrisy of Women’s Rights Tweet
"In honor of March 8 [International Women's Day] And in honor of the soul of the Martyr of March Dalal Mughrabi Surround yourself with great things And ignore those who do not believe in you, As you are half of the universe and even more"
Text on Fatah Shabiba's logo on card: "From the sea of blood of the Martyrs we will create a state"
Shabiba, Fatah’s student movement, and its female students’ committee “Sisters of Dalal,” named after female terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi, saw International Women’s Day as an appropriate time to glorify Mughrabi, who led the most lethal attack in Israel's history: The Coastal Road massacre in which Palestinian terrorists murdered 12 children and 25 adult Israeli civilians.
At An-Najah University, the "Sisters of Dalal" gave out cards to female workers and students to celebrate Women's Day. Text on the card honored murderer Mughrabi and encouraged women to believe in themselves:
"In honor of March 8 [International Women's Day] And in honor of the soul of the Martyr of March Dalal Mughrabi Surround yourself with great things And ignore those who do not believe in you, As you are half of the universe and even more"
[Facebook page of the Fatah Shabiba Student Movement at An-Najah National University, March 7, 2018]
The card bore the symbol of Fatah's Shabiba branch at An-Najah University, which Palestinian Media Watch has reported includes text encouraging youth to seek Martyrdom-death:
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was called out on Twitter on Sunday for hypocrisy on the issue of women’s rights.
UNRWA initially tweeted, “In 2017, over 80,000 Palestine refugee community members were engaged in awareness-raising on gender equality and Gender Based Violence through various UNRWA-run activities.”
In 2017, over 80,000 Palestine refugee community members were engaged in awareness-raising on gender equality and Gender Based Violence through various UNRWA-run activities. #IWD2018 #TimeIsNow #DignityIsPriceless #ForPalestineRefugees #FundUNRWA https://t.co/3L9UfR4Jnz pic.twitter.com/Ooy8BNwh8r
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) March 11, 2018
In response, the Geneva-based monitoring NGO UN Watch tweeted:
.@UNRWA If you care about "gender equality" why is your staff filled with members of the misogynistic Hamas? Also: If you support peace, why does your map in this photo erase Israel? https://t.co/jD0lwHK7AK
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) March 11, 2018
Monday, March 12, 2018Elder of Ziyon
EoZ Trump symposium
Monday, March 12, 2018Elder of Ziyon
Why a new international agreement? Does this mean the Refugee Convention is not fit for purpose?UNHCR is trying to resettle refugees in other countries, especially the countries that are hosting them. UNRWA is against that.
The Refugee Convention focuses on rights of refugees and obligations of states, but it does not deal with international cooperation writ large. And that’s what the global compact seeks to address.
What tangible difference will the compact make in the lives of refugees or the communities that host them?
We would see better education for refugee boys and girls, as well as better access to health services for all refugees, and more livelihood opportunities. We would also see a different way host communities engage with refugees, hopefully moving away from the encampment policies that we still have in too many countries.
The compact would make sure that countries like Lebanon are supported. Not just from a humanitarian perspective but from a development cooperation perspective. And that’s what is new.
Also, we would hopefully get more resettlement places and more ways refugees can move to third countries – such as through family reunification, student scholarships, or humanitarian visas so refugees can travel safely (what we call ‘complementary pathways’).
Sunday, March 11, 2018Elder of Ziyon
One has to wonder if the average Iranian actually believes any of this.
A top aide to the Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution says the US is secretly seeking to penetrate into Iraq and other regional states with the aim of destroying them from inside.
In an address to a religious ceremony in Tehran on Friday, Ali Akbar Velayati said the US’ excessive greed in the region has led to the massacre of innocent people in Yemen.
“The US is secretly seeking to penetrate into the region and destroy the Islamic countries particularly Syria, Yemen and Iraq from inside, but it will end up in total failure,” he was quoted as saying in a Farsi report by Fars News Agency.
Sunday, March 11, 2018IanIsraeli settlement activity in the West Bank and east Jerusalem is a war crime, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein charged in a report he issued last week.
“The establishment and expansion of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory by Israel, including the legal and administrative measures that it has taken to provide socioeconomic incentives, security, infrastructure and social services to citizens of Israel residing in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, amount to the transfer by Israel of its population into the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” al-Hussein, who is a Jordanian prince, said.
He continued, “The transfer of the population by an occupying state into an occupied territory is a grave breach of article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and therefore a war crime.”
His report on Israeli settlement activity was published on the UN Human Rights Council website on Wednesday.
It is one of six reports on Israel that will be presented to the council on March 19.
Five charge Israel with human rights abuses in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and the sixth focuses on Israeli actions on the Golan Heights.
One of the reports also dedicates a third of its content to charges of human rights abuses by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and by the PA and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Israel remains the only country with so many reports issued against it. The Human Rights Council, for example, has issued only a single report each on human rights issues in countries such as Syria and Iran.
The host of a program on official PA TV taught viewers that Israel "murders, imprisons, and tortures" Palestinian children, and accordingly "has built itself on the bodies of children."
Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake then "confirmed" this, stating that Israel "executes" children:
Official PA TV host Walaa Al-Battat: "The occupation government, (PA euphemism for Israel) which claims it is democratic and has won the support of some of the world's super powers, has built itself on the bodies of children, and it still murders, imprisons, and tortures them with the most extreme types of torture."
Director of PLO Commission of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake: "[Israel] is still going further and further with arrests of the [Palestinian] children - not just arrests, but also execution and murder. Children have been summarily executed... This has occurred based on official decisions made by the Israeli government, which has decided that live bullets should be fired at what it calls "the rock throwers." [Official PA TV, Who is the Judge?, Feb. 9, 2018]
The host of the program, Walaa Al-Battat, is well-known from her hosting of PA TV's children's program The Best Home. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Al-Battat has used this program to teach children the libel that Israel targets and murders children. During the Palestinian terror wave in November 2015, when young Palestinian terrorists were attacking Israelis with knives, the host explicitly told Palestinian children "not to walk alone," because Israel "targets children everywhere... these are barbarians," who "try to kill people for no reason":
While Israel is mired in domestic scandals and coalition crises, the greatest threat the country has known since the eve of the Yom Kippur War – perhaps since the War for Independence – is steadily taking shape. This menace, posed of course by Iran, essentially consists of a wide range of growing threats closing in on us. The Iranians, who invented the game of chess, are exceedingly adept at playing several boards simultaneously, with the winner's prize no less than control of the entire Middle East and beyond.
The bottom chessboard is regional. The Iranians cunningly took a step back and allowed the superpowers to destroy their main enemies in the region. The Americans weakened the Taliban and eliminated Saddam Hussein, and, along with Russia, they annihilated the Islamic State group. The Iranians also helped Shiite militias exhaust and chase American forces from Iraq. The resulting vacuum in Iraq and Syria was filled by the Iranians and their proxies.
Today, Iran is penetrating deeper across the Middle East and is guiding the Shiite majorities in eastern Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. It has also established a foothold among the Houthis rebels in Yemen. Just several days ago, Bahraini forces thwarted a coup attempt orchestrated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. At the same time, the Iranians have forged unprecedentedly strong alliances with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Together with their complete control over Lebanon, the Iranians have laid siege to virtually the entire Middle East.
The upper chess board is the international sphere, where the Iranians have secured a nuclear deal. This achievement grants them all the advantages of military nuclear capabilities without the costs. While Iran doesn't have to fear a military strike on its nuclear facilities, sanctions relief and lucrative business deals have provided the immense funds it uses to realize its regional aspirations. In around 10 years, when the nuclear deal expires, no country will step in to stop Iran if it continues developing nuclear weapons, for fear of squandering its vast investments in the Islamic republic.
Now, to understand indigeneity, one must also understand indigenous people, how we see ourselves, and how we see the world. At its simplest, indigenous status stems from the genesis of a culture, language, and traditions in conjunction with its connections to an ancestral land, most commonly derived from ties to pre-colonial peoples. Once a people have such a cultural, linguistic, and spiritual genesis as well as a coalescence as a people, they are generally acknowledged as an indigenous people.
In 1970, Ms. Odeh was convicted by Israeli courts for her role in the murder of two students.
There could be no building of new synagogues or churches. Dhimmis could not ride horses, but only donkeys; they could not use saddles, but only ride sidesaddle. Further, they could not employ a Muslim. Jews and Christians alike had to wear special hats, cloaks and shoes to mark them out from Muslims. They were even obliged to carry signs on their clothing or to wear types and colors of clothing that would indicate they were not Muslims, while at the same time avoid clothing that had any association with Mohammed and Islam. Most notably, green clothing was forbidden...
Other aspects of dhimmi existence were that Jews - and also Christians - were not to be given Muslim names, were not to prevent anyone from converting to Islam, and were not to be allowed tombs that were higher than those of Muslims. Men could enter public bathhouses only when they wore a special sign around their neck distinguishing them from Muslims, while women could not bathe with Muslim women and had to use separate bathhouses instead. Sexual relations with a Muslim woman were forbidden, as was cursing the Prophet in public - an offense punishable by death.
Under dhimmi rules as they evolved, neither Jews nor Christians could carry guns, build new places of worship or repair old ones without permission,or build any place of worship that was higher than a mosque. A non-Muslim could not inherit anything from a Muslim. A non-Muslim man could not marry a Muslim woman, although a Muslim man could marry a Christian or a Jewish woman.
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Martin Gilbert, In Ishmael's House: A History of Jews in Muslim Lands (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2010) 32 - 33.
Sunday, March 11, 2018Elder of Ziyon
This week, the Israeli Knesset adopted legislation which empowers the Israeli Minister of Interior to revoke the permanent residency status of persons involved in terrorism, treason or espionage.The EU is saying that while the law clearly points out that the revocation of residency is for very serious crimes.
The European Union rejects terrorism in all its forms, and the crimes set out in this legislation are very serious. However, the new law could make the residency status of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, a protected population under International Humanitarian Law, even more precarious than it already is today. The new law could be used to further compromise the Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem, which would further undermine the prospects of a two-state solution.
In line with international law, the European Union does not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, including East Jerusalem, and does not consider them to be part of Israel’s territory, irrespective of their legal status under domestic Israeli law.
The European Union will closely monitor if and how this new law is applied to Palestinians in East Jerusalem.
Sunday, March 11, 2018Elder of Ziyon
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the NBC network over the weekend that Russians who sought to influence the results of the 2016 presidential elections could have been “Jews, but with Russian citizenship.”Alan M. Dershowitz: What Is a "Refugee"? The Jews from Morocco versus the Palestinians from Israel
In the interview, a full transcript of which was released by the Kremlin on Saturday, the Russia president said “I do not care at all, because they do not represent the government.
“Maybe they are not even Russians, but Ukrainians, Tatars or Jews, but with Russian citizenship, which should also be checked; maybe they have dual citizenship or a green card; maybe the US paid them for this. How can you know that? I do not know either,” he said.
Putin insisted such efforts could not be tied to the Kremlin.
“Why have you decided the Russian authorities, myself included, gave anybody permission to do this?” Putin asked in the often-combative interview.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller is conducting a wide-ranging investigation to determine whether President Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow to help elect him.
Last month Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for allegedly backing Trump’s campaign, maligning his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and engaging in other election interference.
Approximately the same number of Jews were displaced from their Arab homelands during this period. Nearly all of them could trace their heritage back thousands of years, well before the Muslims and Arabs became the dominant population. Like the Palestinian Arabs, some left voluntarily, but many had no realistic choice. The similarities are striking, but so are the differences.Melanie Phillips: The Right Is Sticking by What They Think Is Right
The most significant difference is between how Israel dealt with the Jews who were displaced and how the Arab and Muslim word dealt with the Palestinians who had been displaced by a war they started.
Israel integrated its brothers and sisters from the Arab and Muslim world. The Arab world put its Palestinian brothers and sisters in refugee camps, treating them as political pawns — and festering sores — in its persistent war against the Jewish state.
It has now been 70 years since this exchange of populations occurred. It is time to end the deadly charade of calling the displaced Palestinians "refugees." Almost none of the neatly five million Arabs who now seek to claim the mantle of "Palestinian refugee" was ever actually in Israel. They are the descendants — some quite distant — of those who were actually displaced in 1948. The number of surviving Arabs who were personally forced out of Israel by the war started by their brethren is probably no more a few thousand, probably less. Perhaps they should be compensated, but not by Israel. The compensation should come from Arab countries that illegally seized the assets of their erstwhile Jewish residents whom they forced to leave. These few thousand Palestinians have no greater moral, historic or legal claim than the surviving Jewish individuals who were displaced during the same time period seven decades ago.
In life as in law there are statutes of limitations that recognize that history changes the status quo. The time has come – indeed it is long overdue – for the world to stop treating these Palestinians as refugees. That status ended decades ago. The Jews who came to Israel from Morocco many years ago are no longer refugees. Neither are the relatives of the Palestinians who have lived outside of Israel for nearly three quarters of a century.
Although Women’s March leaders said Farrakhan’s statements were “not aligned with the Women’s March Unity Principles,” other progressives have supported Mallory. New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Donna Lieberman called her “a fearless fighter against racism.”
According to The Daily Caller, at least seven Democrats had meetings with Farrakhan while in Congress, with Rep. Danny K. Davis calling him an “outstanding human being.” And in 2013, Democratic National Committee Vice Chairman Keith Ellison, who worked for the Nation of Islam for 18 months (although he subsequently damned its antisemitism), dined with Farrakhan and Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani when the latter visited the United Nations in 2013, and was said by Farrakhan to have dined with him again in 2016.
In Britain, transgender activist Munroe Bergdorf was appointed by the Labour Party as an adviser on LGBT+ issues, even though the previous year she had made a number of offensive comments, including claiming that all white people were racist and calling the suffragettes “white supremacists.” When this was revealed in the press, it was another week before she resigned.
Not surprising: Such black-on-white racism is common on the left. And its open antisemitism is now a running sore. This week, the Labour Party launched an investigation into claims by the blogger David Collier that party members posted antisemitic comments on a closed Facebook group run by Palestinian activists, which included discussions of conspiracy myths about the Rothschilds and supposed Israeli involvement in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as links to material produced by neo-Nazi groups.
Trump and Netanyahu supporters may hold their noses for the greater good. But on the left, bad people are supported because the left believes bad things.
Saturday, March 10, 2018Elder of Ziyon
A three-star officer serves as the United States Security Coordinator (USSC) to assist the PA to transform and professionalize its security sector; engage with the Israelis and Palestinians on security initiatives that build trust and confidence; and support U.S. and international efforts that set the conditions for a lasting and peace agreement. INL (US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs) works closely with the USSC to implement security assistance programs for the PA, and provides the funding necessary to support the PASSTP and related U.S. efforts. The U.S. also coordinates with the Government of Israel in order to implement this program.
Goals: The INL program began in 2007 with a key goal to establish at least nine special battalions within the PA National Security Force (NSF), a gendarmerie-like force with the mission to provide a rapid reaction capability to support the Palestinian Civil Police (PCP). After attaining this milestone in 2012, the program’s overall focus shifted from build, train, and equip to one focused on assisting the PA to develop further the institutional capacities to maintain these gains. The program now continues to assist the PA to professionalize its security forces, and assist the PA to build, maintain, and sustain security and justice sector institutions necessary for a future Palestinian state.I wasn't aware that the US was still actively working with the PA on security training. I was aware of a similar initiative by the EU called EUPOL-COPPS.
Buy EoZ's book, PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
